For students passionate about art, technology, and storytelling, the Digital Media Arts program at the Whiteside Area Career Center offers them the chance to create.

Through hands-on projects in photography, graphic design, video editing, and digital drawing, WACC students explore the tools and techniques used by professionals in the creative industry, all while building portfolios of their own. Eligible students can also earn up to 12 college credits through the program.

Instead of textbooks and tests, students learn about camera control, lighting, composition, file management, and image manipulation for digital photography, as well as video and audio editing techniques used in film, television and online media.

Students are also introduced to digital drawing techniques, composition tools, color theory and how to effectively use social media, while focusing on technical skills, visual storytelling, social impact and ethics.

The program offers:

• Media arts
• Digital photography
• Digital drawing
• Video and audio production
• Motion graphics and animation
• Interactive and web design
• Graphic design

Students can also learn how to design a video game, 3D print, record a TV show, print their own T-shirt, or work in a sound recording studio for music, podcast production and other projects.

Instructor Denis Mennie said the program is open to junior and senior students, and can be taken as a one- or two-year course.

“We like for students to experience a little bit of everything,” Mennie said. “So even if they prefer to do something, they get to experience different classes. And then if they come back in their second year, they can specialize in something.”

Second-year students have the option to complete a capstone project, which can include work for real businesses or community organizations.

“We have somebody working on a marketing campaign for an up-and-coming makeup company. We also have somebody editing the video for the George Fest,” Mennie said. “We were there with some students over the summer, and we got some footage, some photos, and now the students are going to put it all together, and they’re going to do a promotion for the next George Fest.”

Mennie said the program equips students with real-world skills that prepare them for advanced college programs or direct entry into the workforce. He noted that former student Matt Moreno now works in marketing for the Chicago Bulls, while another alum, Allison Martinez, serves as a global product manager for Wahl Clipper in Sterling.

Eastland High School seniors Gabriel Parnell and Peyton Johnson are editing their music album as part of their second-year project.

“The first year, you get to figure out what you like. When I first got here, they were having me do drawing, photography, working on the sets and the recordings, and writing movies,” Parnell said. “And then when you find your groove and you get on it, he’ll [Mennie] send you to work and give you projects on the things you’re looking at. About the second month in, he had us back here making music because he noticed we got interested in it.”

Fulton High School senior Isabella Bush is currently looking for marketing projects and clients outside of the WACC to help build her portfolio. She wants to attend college for graphic design and business, with plans to start her own advertising business after graduation.

“Coming in here definitely helped me,” Bush said. “I knew I wanted to do something with graphic design or digital drawing, but coming in here and learning more about the process of designing stuff and advertisements really helped.”

Faith Christian School junior Hunter Roe is in her first year with the program. She is currently learning how to edit photos using Photoshop and hopes to work in the film industry one day.

“I wanted to expand my skills in doing things that I love, which is being creative,” Roe said. “I feel like this is one of those classes where you get to learn a lot and explore things and uncover new talents that you didn’t know you had.”

That sense of discovery and creative freedom is exactly what Mennie hopes to foster in the classroom.

“We get some of the most creative students in here,” Mennie said. “I give them the tools, and they just go ahead with it, and I try to shepherd them to make sure that they keep busy. That’s the key.”

The WACC is a cooperative endeavor of 16 member school districts and three parochial schools, educating students who come from five counties: Bureau, Carroll, Lee, Ogle and Whiteside, according to WACC’s website. Most of the population is from Sterling, Rock Falls and Dixon, with the remainder residing in surrounding rural areas and small towns.

For more information, visit wacc.com.